Charlie Bone and the Infamous Seven
by Ehren Hatten
Summary: [cross over with FateStay Night] Charlie's got new classmates who have very interesting powers, powers that the Bloors want total control of. And there is a strange new handyman there who seems to know two of the new students. CHAPTER THREE UP!
1. PRologue

_A/N: who here thinks I'm insane? Raise your hands please. Yeah. Thought so. _

_Anyway, what am I doing? Glad ya'll asked. I haven't friggin' clue, really. It just came to me, a plot bunny suddenly appeared and attacked my jugular and left me for dead. Now, this is what you get from me. Congratulations on your hard work of getting past the "wtf?" factor and going ahead and reading. However, I doubt you're reading this, so it doesn't really matter if I continue to say absurd and completely stupid things to you or express my deepest thoughts. If I had any. Deep that is. ALL HAIL METRO MINT WATER! It is made of God and Win. YUSH!_

_So anyway, this was simply the thought. What if the servants were reincarnated into endowed children in the series The Children of the Red King? Haha.. I've been having trouble dealing with Shirou/Archer, since I like the angst that would be Archer, but Shirou's sixteen. So what do I do?_

_Have to go with the same scenario I suppose for Archer and Shirou, being Archer is Shirou's future self from an alternate reality, at least, I think I can pull that off given the rather NORMAL circumstances in Charlie Bone. Being, magic is magic, and time travel has once entered into it, but that plot device is gone now. -w-;;_

_And thus, you get the reason why I'm so damn good. :3 I can pull off something that shouldn't be and make it believable through my writing. Yup._

**Charlie Bone and the Infamous Seven**

_**Prologue**_

A tall, relatively muscled man lay against a rock, gazing at his own slow demise. He was tanned and had prematurely white, longish hair that was messy from the battle he'd been in, his bangs hiding a little of his brown eyes, typical of a Japanese man. It was his own fault he was in this state to begin with. There stood, not fifty feet away, a man with a horrible grin on his pale features. The man had long dark hair and it was flowing free in the breeze that blew through the desolate area. Fire was in the man's gaze, his eyes burning like hot coals, as he gazed at the fallen man. 

The fallen man grimaced and twitched as he moved to sit up more. The man standing away from him frowned, pouting as though he had expected him to die. He had, but that wasn't the point.

The fallen man smirked arrogantly as he slowly stood up. He had one last trump card to him before he could safely say he was going to die. "You aren't going to win," said the dark haired man.

The fallen man pulled on a coat the color of blood and straightened himself up. Dirt, sweat and blood covered portions of his face. He heard a distant purring and smiled as he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small spherical object the size of a shooter marble and looks at it. It was his last attempt at creating what he'd seen so long ago in the hand of a woman who he could only guess was the mother of the man in front of him.

Fire burst to life around the red coated man. He didn't flinch, he didn't think, he simply smiled and held out the little ball. The man saw it and made the flames die down a little as he ran toward the red coated man. "Give me that!" he snarled.

The red coated man retracted his hand and looked into the marble. He saw a forest inside the ball, but it looked unnatural, just like anything else he created. The purring grew louder, but disappeared as everything began swirling around him. He looked up to see the horrified look of his attacker and gave him a rude gesture, grinning maniacally at him. "Hope I never see the like of you again, Mr. Bloor." Then, all went white.


	2. Chapter One

_A/N: so that was a start. Blah blah blah… this also serves as a chance for me to get more used to writing for these characters' personalities. I draw a comic that is called Wonderland, or really, I draw comics in the context of the wonderland thing. They didn't start out as being a part of a series more than they were just random stories strung together. Wonderland in the Caribbean was to be the only one until I was told I should do a Phantom of the Opera wonderland and then I didn't get around to it until I saw there was going to be a movie. So I did The Phantom of Wonderland. Then, I had to put it up so people could read them, so I created the wonderlands site, which I hardly updated more than once in a blue moon until I got tired of it looking so… hard to navigate._

_Hxxp// geocities .com/ wls453 take out the spaces and put TT where the two Xs are and you'll have my site. Thanks!_

_Also I have a Charlie bone site hxxp// geocities .com/ruins453_

_Wish wasn't so damn picky about urls in the fics._

_So once again, this is a crossover between Charlie Bone and Fate/Stay Night. Love! 3_

_Also, this is not a part of the fanseries I'm doing with my own set of original characters in the CB world, but I think I will add a couple of OCs in the world that are from the other series. For those who know the series, it might get confusing since I'm not done with Tomb of Mahmet, but don't worry, this is not in the same story line as the other. I'll update Tomb of Mahmet as soon as I can, I promise. Thank you for staying with me for so long. I know I forget to update a lot and I'm glad I have readers who are as loyal as ya'll!_

_**Chapter One**_

Charlie Bone was your average boy of twelve. He liked soccer and television, he hated trying to comb his thick, hedge like dark hair with a passion and he lived in a normal neighborhood in Number Nine Filbert Street. However, he was not normal; in fact, one could say he was a bit abnormal as far as normal children go. He was the descendent of a wizard who became a king in England called The Red King. As one of these descendents, he was endowed with a power. He could walk into portrait paintings and hear the conversations in photographs.

The endowed children were not large in numbers. There were only a handful of them going to the school where one family controlled them all with the help of their allies. These allies were also of the mind that the children needed to be under control or else they would not be good children after all. He'd seen what had happened to a few of his friends who had become the enemies of the Bloors of Bloors Academy. His own great aunts, the Yewbeam sisters, were also in on this conspiracy to keep a tyrannical control on all the endowed.

Charlie had previously helped his friend Asa Pike get out of the Bloors' control and back to his mother where they could go back to their home. He hoped that Asa, a were beast, would be able to come back at some point. He liked the boy now since he had helped to save his own father from being completely lost forever. With Charlie's father back, things were wonderful.

Charlie looked at a letter that came in the mail for him. It didn't have a return address, but it had a rather messy sort of handwriting on it. He opened it to find a note from Asa in it.

_Charlie,_

_I want to thank you again for helping me out so much. My mother is really happy to have me home again, but I want to come back. She doesn't want me to, since Manfred will try to get a chance at me again, but I won't let him. As soon as I can, I'm going to come back and finish school. I'm a terrible actor, but I know of one girl that will miss me greatly and I need to finish so I can go on to university._

_Asa Pike_

Charlie put the letter back into his pocket as he took his blue school cloak out. All students at Bloors Academy had to wear a colored cloak as part of their uniform. Purple cloaks belonged to the Drama department, green cloaks were worn by the art students and blue belonged on the music students. Charlie wasn't very good with music, he was terrible at it, but it gave him a department to be in while he was able to study as an endowed.

The blue school bus came around for him and he saw Morgan MacGregor, a busty, blonde girl of considerable height, run up to the door, shove her bags into the bus and get in behind Charlie. Morgan lived on the same street as Charlie, just a few doors down from him. Her father had become one of the new art teachers at Bloors and he was very good from what Charlie had seen of his work. Morgan had inherited the artistic ability from him and played violin fairly well. She wasn't a genius like his friend Fidelio was, but she was pretty good.

She grinned at Charlie and then sat down next to Gabriel Silk. Charlie went over to his friend Fidelio Gunn and sat down next to him, looking at Fidelio's wide grin. Fidelio was a year older than Charlie, but he was the first person from Bloors that had helped him when he had first started going to the academy.

There were two other people on the bus that Charlie saw, but didn't recognize. There was a strange boy up near the front, tall and lanky with a big, almost maniacal grin on his face. He had odd red eyes, but they weren't like Billy's eyes. They looked almost inhuman. He also didn't have white hair like Billy Raven did. His hair was blue and short and spiky on the stop with a long ponytail near the nape of his neck. He looked to be about the same age as Morgan, about fifteen or so years of age.

He had a girl next to him that was considerably smaller than him and far more serious looking. She had pale blonde hair pulled back in a braid and stern green eyes as she seemed to be avoiding talking to the blue haired boy. She finally smacked the boy on the head before resuming a very bored look to her posture as she waited for the bus to get to the school.

Fidelio looked at them both and then looked to Charlie. "New comers, eh? Looks like these are more interesting than Morgan and that psychic girl are."

Morgan shot a slight look of annoyance to Fidelio and he chuckled. Charlie grinned and settled back for the ride until he spotted Dagbert Endless. He had not gone back to wherever he came from after all. Dagbert was a drowner, he could control the oceans and even make a person drown even in a room up in a tower where no water could be found. His green-brown hair looked especially crinkled as they approached the school and the bus stopped.

The children got off the buses as they walked to the main building. He saw several more new students in amongst the art and drama children. One had very long light brown hair that went past her skirt, though he could only get so much of a look of her. She was walking beside another girl with light brown hair as well, but her was not as long as the other girl's. The girl with extra long hair wore a green cloak and the other girl wore a purple cloak. They disappeared into their separate groups as Charlie watched a massive boy walk ahead of him into the art coatroom. The boy looked like he shouldn't even be there, but he knew he must be a student because he was in the art department. He was so tall and broad that he didn't look like a kid!

Charlie made it into the blue coatroom and saw the blonde girl walking out to have her morning run. The blue haired boy was still in the coatroom putting on his sneakers. He looked up at Charlie and grinned. "Oi! Hello there!" He put his foot down and stood up, grinning at Charlie even more.

Charlie blinked and grinned at him back. "Ah… hello," he said as he put his cloak up on the hook.

The boy leaned against the wall behind him and waved to Fidelio. "Hello there."

Fidelio waved back and went about getting ready for the morning run. "I'm Fidelio Gunn. Are you new?"

"Sentanta McRoeg," said Setanta cheerfully.

"Charlie Bone," said Charlie as he pulled his sneakers on and nodded to Fidelio as Dagbert walked in. "Better get running, Setanta."

Setanta shrugged and bumped into Dagbert, blinking in surprise as though he just saw him there. "Ah, sorry 'bout that," he said.

Dagbert looked less than pleased, but ignored him, going about taking his cloak off and getting outside.

* * *

Charlie saw Morgan MacGregor again during break and took aside so he may give her the letter Asa had sent him. She smiled when she read it and turned bright pink. "Thank you, Charlie," she said as she handed him the letter back. He smiled faintly when she ran off, a little bounce in her step.

He saw Emma standing next to Tancred and watched as she giggled at his jokes. He really had no idea that she liked Tancred like that at all and was glad she was able to get close to him. Olivia bounced over as Fidelio came up behind her. "Hello, Charlie!" she grinned and bounced on her heels happily.

Charlie grinned and motioned over to Emma. "Seems she's getting on with Tanc," he said.

Fidelio nodded. "Yeah, looks like it. Anyway, so what's going on with Asa, Charlie? I saw you looking at a letter when the bus picked you up."

Charlie looked around and saw no Manfred or Dagbert in sight, so he nodded to Fidelio and Olivia. "He's all right. He said he wants to come back to finish school, though I can't really see why. The Bloors will be after him for certain!"

Olivia nodded. "But, then again, he got a cutesy little girlfriend here." She grinned and motioned to the ecstatic Morgan as she chatted happily with the blonde haired girl he saw Setanta with on the bus. The girl didn't crack a smile, though she looked somewhat amused by Morgan's constantly wavering about as she rambled on.

"Who's that girl there?" asked Olivia. "I saw her earlier talking with Manfred. You don't think she's one of them, do you? I mean, she hardly even smiles!"

"Hello!"

Charlie whipped around to see one of the new girls. She had a very cute face with long brown hair that went past her shoulders, hazel eyes gazed up at him through dark lashes. She was the one that was in the purple cloak he had seen earlier. "Hello."

The girl smiled brightly at Charlie and curtsied to them. "I'm Meda Baskaino. It's nice to meet you," she said brightly, a slight strange accent to her speech.

Charlie nodded and looked to Fidelio for a moment before smiling faintly back to Meda. "Charlie Bone. These are my friends Fidelio Gunn and Olivia Vertigo."

Fidelio grinned broadly and walked over to the girl and shook her hand. She giggled and then shook the hand of Olivia before the two moved away. "This place is so big! I just came here from Greece. My father said that Bloors were good friends of his and said I should come here since my other school was becoming very limiting to my theater training. I'm in drama, you know."

Olivia blinked and then grinned broadly. "So you're in the same department as me? Cool! Come on, I want to show you around!" Then, she snatched Meda's hand and pulled her away as swiftly as she had spoken, Meda trying desperately to keep up with the hyperactive girl.

Fidelio chuckled and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Seems Liv's got herself a new friend," he said.

"She said her father is a friend of the Bloors. That means she's either got lots of money or-"

"She's endowed," finished Fidelio. "I know, it occurred to me, too, Charlie, but there's no telling until something happens." He grinned and clapped Charlie on the back. "Besides, what would life be without things occurring around Charlie Bone?"

Charlie stumbled slightly and laughed at his friend a little before getting a very bad sinking feeling in his stomach. The hunting horn sounded and it was time to go inside for afternoon classes.

Charlie went inside with Fidelio and donned his blue cloak before walking out to the hallway. In the hallway was an odd sort of man fixing the sign over the blue cloakroom entrance. He had tanned skin and looked Asian, looking to be around thirty years old. However, he had very white hair that was partially hidden by a cap he wore backwards on his head as he screwed in the last screw of the crossed instruments over the entrance.

Charlie stopped and watched the man. He was very tall and well built, his strong shoulders carrying the ladder he picked up after he was done with the sign. He looked to Charlie and frowned faintly at Charlie before walking past him. A new handyman perhaps? Charlie wondered if he too was in league with the Bloors. The thought didn't encourage him.

Charlie walked on as he continued to watch the man disappear around the corner only to run into the chest of an older boy. "Ah, sorry. Wasn't watching where I was going," he said to the boy.

The boy looked down at Charlie and smiled warmly at him, his brown eyes even smiling as well. He was Asian looking as well and had very short red-brown hair on his head that looked very messy. "Not a problem. I was just walking this way and didn't notice you either. I hope you don't mind," he said.

Charlie blinked and shook his head. "No, I was just headed to class."

The boy nodded and pointed to himself. "As am I."

"We're not getting very far, are we?"

The boy smiled sheepishly and laughed. "You're right. Sorry. I'm Emiya Shirou, by the way. You're the first person I've actually had the chance to talk to, so you may call me Shirou if you want."

Charlie nodded. "I'm Charlie Bone. So you're new then?"

Shirou nodded and scratched his nose. "Yes. It seems I get lost easily in new places."

Charlie nodded. "Where were you headed?"

"The theatre," he said. Charlie noticed the purple cloak he was wearing and understood.

"The theatre's that way, Shirou. You better hurry, the horn is going to sound soon."

Shirou nodded and started jogging. He looked over his shoulder at Charlie and waved, smiling. "I'll see you later, then, Charlie-san!"

Charlie blinked. "Charlie-san? He must not have come from England then." Charlie then walked on to his class, not noticing a small blonde haired girl watching Shirou run away and Charlie go past her.

* * *

At Dinner, Charlie sat beside Billy Raven, a little albino boy with big, thick glasses on his nose. Billy smiled at Charlie as Charlie watched the small blonde haired girl sit down next to Fidelio across from him. Setanta sat down across from her and leaned over to wink at Charlie before grinning at the girl. The girl looked less than pleased to be anywhere near Setanta, though he did note that she looked less severe than she did before.

Morgan sat down next to Setanta and blinked when she noticed the boy watching her like a hawk. "What?"

Setanta eyed her and shrugged, smirking at her slyly before diving into his soup when it was passed to him. Morgan looked bewildered to the blonde girl as the girl shrugged and went about eating her own soup.

After everyone was finished eating, Charlie watched Dr. Bloor stand up and hold out his hands for silence. The children looked up at him as did the teachers sitting at the high table. His booming voice echoed slightly in the chamber as he spoke. "Welcome back, students. I wish to remind the endowed children that they are to go to the King's Room for homework before bed. We are also missing one of our number. Asa Pike is sick and can not be with us this term, though he may come next term to complete his year. Also, we have new students here. When I say your name, please rise."

"Medusa Therion." The girl in the green cloak that had brown hair down to her calves stood up. She wore a sort of blindfold on her face. Other than the odd blindfold over her eyes, Charlie thought she was a pretty girl, though strange.

"Meda Baskaino," said Dr. Bloor. Meda stood and curtsied to everyone, waving enthusiastically.

"Hector Dunamis." The very tall, bulky, boy stood up. He had wavy, dark hair that looked a bit wild as well as dark eyes to match his tan skin. He nodded to everyone and sat down, though he still could be picked out very easily.

"We also have two boys from Japan to join us at our esteemed school. Please stand Shirou Emiya and Kojirou Saki," said Dr. Bloor. He motioned with a thick arm to Shirou Emiya standing at the drama table and then to Kojirou who was standing at the art table, black hair styled rather long and whispy. He smirked faintly and sat down after Shirou bowed to everyone and waved.

"And we have Miss Arturia Pendrake and Mr. Setanta McRoeg," said Dr. Bloor as he motioned to the now standing Setanta and the blonde girl. Once they sat down and nodded to the students, his bushy mustache bristling slightly. "Now that you have met your new classmates, be nice to them because they are endowed. Now, disperse!"

The children started getting up and Charlie looked to Arturia Pendrake. "I'll show you where the King's Room is, if you'll follow me," he said.

Arturia nodded and jumped when Shirou came up behind her. "Ah, Charlie. Mind if you also help me find this room?"

Charlie blinked at Shirou and nodded. He was endowed too? Dr. Bloor did say all the children standing were endowed, but Charlie had never seen such a large number of children who were endowed!

Charlie led them up to the King's Room and sat down at the big round table. Arturia stopped at the door and gazed at the room, her green eyes wide. Shirou tapped Arturia on the shoulder and leaned down to her, blushing faintly. "Erm, Miss Pendrake, you're blocking the way in."

Arturia turned several shades of pink before walking a little fast to the table and sat down beside Morgan. Setanta grinned as he came in and sat down on the other side of Morgan and scooted closer to her. Charlie watched as Morgan's ears turned pink as she tried to move away.

Manfred walked in and put some papers on the desk, eyeing the children. Charlie had become accustomed to Lysander taking over the task when Manfred was out. Now that he was back, he felt a little sick to be in his presence again.

"You've met your new classmates at Dinner, so I don't need to introduce them. Pull out your books and start on your homework and Mr. McRoeg, if you do not start on your homework instead of chatting up MacGregor, I will give you both detentions," he said, his voice sounding very hoarse.

Setanta looked very put out as he glared at Manfred and then pulled out his homework. Manfred smirked at Morgan in a very ugly smile. "And MacGregor, since your boyfriend is away, please do behave yourself around the new boys. You wouldn't want Pike learning of anything that might hurt him, would you?"

Morgan glared and gripped the table slightly. Manfred smirked and sat down as Morgan contemplated killing him and burying him out behind the school in the ruins.

Charlie sniffed and smelled fish as Dagbert walked in and sat down. Manfred grunted and went back to his work. "You're late, Endless. Get to work."

Tancred Torsson, a storm bringer boy with yellow hair and a wide grin on his face, looked to Dagbert and smirked nastily at him. Dagbert glared and sat down, looking very contemplative before Tancred patted his shirt pocket. Then, Dagbert looked livid, but calmed down to avoid getting into trouble.

The blindfolded girl, Medusa, was sitting next to Hector, though she didn't seem to have any trouble doing her homework. Charlie briefly wondered how she could move around if she was blindfolded, but didn't ponder on it too long, since they each had a reason for looking the ways they did.

When it was time to leave, Charlie hung back and spoke to Emma before she could get ahead of him to Tancred's side. "Did you hear from Olivia?" he asked.

Emma nodded and smiled. "I'm glad."

Charlie nodded and grinned. He hadn't managed to protect Asa's father, but he had managed to help Asa's mother stay safe and retrieved Asa from the Bloor's clutches so he could escape. With that in mind, Charlie made his way to the dorms with Fidelio and Billy, Dagbert not far behind him.


	3. Chapter Two

_A/N: lalala so now that we've introduced everyone in a mediocre style, why don't we actually put story to this piece of shit, eh? Bleh._

_**Chapter Two**_

Charlie woke to the sound of whispering. He lifted himself up slightly to peer around the dorm, but saw nothing unusual in the pitch black. That is, until he saw Dagbert walking out slowly, a strange glow to his skin. The last time he had seen Dagbert in such a state, he remembered that Dagbert was without his gold sea creatures. What purpose did those sea creatures have for him, anyway?

He then heard the whispering again and looked around. Hector Dunamis was awake and looking out the window a little forlornly. Charlie could hardly blame him. Bloors Academy was not the nicest place to be. "You should sleep, Dunamis," he said softly, trying not to awaken anyone around him. He heard Fidelio snort and Bragger Braine mumbled before snorting and flipping onto his stomach. His little slave Rupe Small was on the bed next to his snoring rather loudly compared to his small form.

Hector looked over and Charlie saw that one of his eyes was gleaming yellow. Charlie was taken aback, nearly falling off his bed in surprise. Hector blinked and covered his eye before looking out the window again. "Apologies… I didn't mean to wake anyone," he said softly. His voice was even lower than average. Just how old was this boy?

Charlie frowned and got to his feet, walking over to the lonely boy. At least, that's what Charlie's impression of what Hector looked like. He stood near Hector as Hector looked up at him, his eye no longer shining. "What… is your endowment?"

Of all things Charlie expected to see, it wasn't Hector grinning like an idiot. "I'm the strongest boy in the world."

Charlie didn't have a hard time believing that, given his size. "Really? How do you know you're stronger than everyone?"

Hector grinned even more and pointed to his chest. "I don't need to know of anyone else. I know I am the strongest."

Charlie once again didn't have trouble believing this at all. Hector gazed up at him and smiled happily, as though Charlie was the first person to actually talk to him like a normal person. Once again, Charlie wasn't surprised. "What is your gift, Charlie Bone?"

"I'm a picture traveler," said Charlie as he looked to the door. Was it just him or did he see a flash of light through the gap under the door.

Once again, Hector's eye gleamed slightly as he looked at the door, an unnatural growl coming from his throat. "Fish. My father's a fisherman. I know the smell well."

Charlie didn't bother asking. He nodded and looked to Hector. "Go back to sleep." Then, he went to his own bed and laid down, pulling the covers over him as the door open. He quickly snorted and rolled over onto his stomach to avoid being noticed by Dagbert as he came in.

However, Dagbert did notice him, though. Charlie jumped when Dagbert's voice sounded in his ear in a whisper. "I know you're awake, Charlie."

Charlie tried to squeeze his eyes shut and pretend to be asleep, but Dagbert wouldn't allow it. "I see you're making friends, Charlie," he said softly.

Charlie sat up and glared at Dagbert. Dagbert didn't see as though he cared. "What phase of the moon is it for you now?"

Dagbert sat down on his bed and gazed at Charlie for a moment before shrugging and lying back on his own bed. "Go to sleep. Matron's coming around."

Charlie frowned and rolled onto his stomach again. Dagbert's behavior was all too strange for Charlie to understand. Even Tancred or Asa weren't as changeable as Dagbert was!

* * *

Morning came and Charlie ran into Shirou Emiya on the morning run. The tall sixteen year old smiled at him with that kind face of his and smiled back. He couldn't help it with someone so nice to him. Shirou sat down on a boulder near the ruins and watched the girls jog by with their friends. Charlie waited around beside him, leaning against a tree as he watched Emma run past beside Olivia. "What brings you here, Charlie Bone?" asked Shirou as he watched Tancred and Lysander walk by talking about something.

Charlie blinked. He'd never had someone ask him that before. "Er—I came because my grandma and her sisters wanted me to come here.. because I'm endowed."

Shirou looked up at Charlie and smiled faintly. "I'm here because I've been living on my own for a while now. I had friends back home, but the Bloors said they would give me a chance here if I would stay here with them. I'm near the age to leave this place, but they wanted me to come anyway. I can't say I'm disappointed. The school is very challenging."

"Because your endowment interested them, I bet," muttered Charlie as he eyed the school.

Shirou blinked as he looked up at Charlie. "They do? I don't think it's very interesting or very useful. All I do is reinforce objects into a stronger material."

Charlie looked at Shirou and understood why the Bloors were interested in him. Reinforcing objects into stronger things would be useful for defending against or attacking the good children, to force them to obey. He hoped that Shirou wasn't going to do what the Bloors wanted. He seemed very nice, but he didn't seem very intelligent.

"Better start running, Charlie," said Joshua Tilpin, the magnetic boy. He smiled with all his very crooked teeth and looked to Shirou, smiling more. This was what Charlie had feared.

Shirou blinked at the boy and smiled back after a moment. "Yeah, we should get moving."

Joshua grinned and jogged up beside him. "Come on, I can show you the ruins. The ruin game is coming soon, you know. You might need to know about it."

"All right. Thanks," said Shirou as the pair started walking into the ruins.

Charlie felt his stomach knot a little. He would have to worry over it later, he had more important things to deal with, such as making sure that he didn't get caught doing anything wrong and getting detention for it.

He found himself running into the blindfolded girl. He blinked as her blindfold fell off, purple eyes with square pupils peered at him through heavy dark lashes. He stared and felt odd, as though his whole body was going stiff. She didn't say anything, she simply bent down and picked up the blindfold and put it back on. However, Charlie's body had started to flat out refuse him anything. He fell backward and his head struck a rock. Then, he saw only black.

* * *

Charlie felt a hard bed underneath him. His head felt strange, fuzzy sounds coming into his ears as he opened his eyes slowly. Gabriel and Billy were hovering over him, Tancred and Lysander not far away, as he slowly sat up. "What happened?"

"Tanc helped bring you in, Charlie," said Gabriel. "You'd hit your head on a rock when you fell down, or that's what it looked like."

Charlie frowned. When he fell? He didn't remember falling. He remembered starting to run again and then running into Medusa and…

"Medusa!"

Lysander looked interested now. "Therion?"

Charlie nodded, though it hurt his head to do so. Billy looked a little worried. "I saw her in the forest before we found you, Charlie," said Billy, "She's very odd."

"I'd accidentally pulled that blindfold off and… she has really weird eyes! Purple eyes with really bizarre square pupils!" said Charlie, flailing his arms around trying to make his point.

Lysander frowned. "Really?"

Charlie nodded. "And then my body went all stiff and I… don't remember anything else."

Tancred looked to Lysander and then to Charlie. "What is it, Sander?"

"Remember your Greek Mythology?" asked Lysander, smirking at his friend, "The gorgon beast known as Medusa who turned men to stone with her gaze."

Tancred winced. "She has that sort of thing? Charlie's lucky to still move!"

Lysander shrugged. "Just a thought."

Charlie rubbed his head and got up slowly. Medusa Therion with the same power as the mythical Medusa? Now that was more than strange. "Have any of you spoken to the others?"

Gabriel blinked. "You mean the new kids? Ah… I spoke to Shirou yesterday, but not for long."

Charlie nodded. "He's living on his own. He has the ability to reinforce objects to make them stronger."

Gabriel looked a little worried. "That's not good if the Bloors know about it."

"And by all accounts, I'm guessing they do," said Lysander, still thinking. He tapped Tancred on the shoulder and nodded. "Come on, Tanc. We've got to get to class."

Tancred nodded and looked to Charlie. "See you, Charlie." Then, he left behind Lysander.

Charlie stood and looked to Gabriel and Billy. "Time for class? How long have I been out?"

"A few hours, Charlie. We just came back from the first class," said Gabriel. "We need to get back to our second classes."

Charlie nodded and watched Gabriel leave. Billy remained and looked worried. "That girl… she doesn't feel right," he squeaked.

Charlie looked to Billy and blinked. "Hmmm?"

"She doesn't feel right. She feels like… like less than human," he said, "But I know she is, so it frightens me a little."

Charlie could understand that! Asa Pike changed into a beast at dusk, but were there others like him that carried that same animal like feeling when talking to them? He did remember that Medusa didn't give him any strange, creepy, vibe or anything, but those eyes were unnerving. They seemed larger than normal and the pupils were the most disturbing part of them!

He nodded to Billy and tapped his shoulder. "Come on, let's get going." Billy nodded and followed him out, to separate from him for going to his own class after a short distance. He noticed the other girl, Meda, in the hallway smiling at him with odd blue eyes. "Hello, Charlie Bone," she said and then waved her hand, making a bright ball of light appear in front of her.

"What are you doing?"

Both Meda and Charlie turned to see the new handyman appear from the hallway, his hat brim shading his slanted brown eyes. Meda huffed and puffed for a moment and stomped away, as though she'd been denied her fun. The handyman snorted derisively and walked over to Charlie. "You look the worse for wear," muttered the tanned man in front of him.

Charlie blinked at him. Why did he seem somewhat familiar? "Sorry?"

"Your head's bandaged. Shouldn't you be resting?" asked the man as he knealed down to look at Charlie better.

Charlie shook his head slowly. "The nurses don't really care. They especially don't like me much."

The man nodded and stood up, crossing his arms in front of his well muscled chest. He grinned slightly and patted Charlie on his hedge like hair, though he didn't succeed in messing it up. You can't very well mess up what resembles a hedge, now can you?

Charlie looked around. "What was that girl, Meda, doing?"

The man shrugged and started walking. "Not my area of expertise, I'm afraid."

Charlie frowned faintly. The new handyman helped keep him safe from whatever Meda was planning on doing and then acted like he'd done nothing at all. Oh well, Charlie still had class to get to and at the rate he was at, he was going to have missed both his morning classes and end up going to lunch with more homework than he needed!

* * *

Manfred gazed at the profiles of children in front of him. He frowned at the one labeled "Arturia Pendrake" and tossed it on a pile that was still a little small. He picked up the next one and looked at it. "Shirou Emiya… my my, you are interesting aren't you," he muttered as he put it in between the two piles. "You say you reinforce objects, but I've seen what you do. You don't just reinforce, but create as well."

He wrote down some notes and placed the profile on another pile entirely before picking up another one. Right then, he heard a knock on the bookcase outside of his office. "What is it," he called.

"Sir, it's Meda, sir!" cried a girl's voice. She was already fifteen, but she still looked a little small, though her body betrayed the feminine curves that she was growing very well, at least on the bottom anyway. She came in after a moment and walked over to his desk. She sat down primly and folded her hands in her lap as she waited for him to speak.

Manfred put down the profile in front of him and gazed at her. "You're here, I see. You didn't succeed in what you said you would. Get caught?"

Meda nodded. "That new janitor," she pouted, "He ruined my fun entirely! Just appeared and startled me enough that I had to stop!"

Manfred frowned. The new handyman in the academy was a man with a phony name. He knew it was, but he couldn't figure out why he had such a phony name. He searched around and picked up the man's profile and looked at it carefully. Nothing looked familiar about him. His tanned skin betrayed the fact that he was working in the sun a lot and his premature white hair was odd in itself. "Mr. Kiritsugu Archer," he muttered.

Meda huffed a little that Manfred wasn't paying any attention to her. She flipped a lock of her brown hair over her shoulder and looked at her nails, grimacing at the state of them. Stopping the spell had been hard on them. "He's odd. It's as though he knows what I was planning on doing," she said.

Manfred frowned and put the profile down. He would have to discuss the matter with his father. Neither one of them liked having the man around, just like they didn't like having Mr. MacGregor there as an art teacher. They put up with MacGregor because he was about as large as his father and scarier for the fact that his temper made his powers increase in intensity without control. That thought alone made both men very wary of dealing with the man.

"Thank you, Baskaino. You may leave," he said calmly. Meda looked as though she wanted to slap him for making her wait so long without a response, but she stood up calmly and curtsied to Manfred and then walked out, pulling the hood of her cloak up.

Manfred looked at Meda's profile and smiled. The girl was a drama queen that was a fact; however, despite this fact, she had manners enough not to argue too much with an older person. The other girl, Medusa, was one he wondered heavily about. She was only thirteen and already very tall, much like Morgan MacGregor was, and just as filled out as the blonde Scottish girl. The blindfold unnerved him greatly, but he knew the reason why she wore it. She did not know how to turn off the power of her eyes. It was as though Medusa herself was reincarnated into the body of a human girl. He suspected that might be the case, though he didn't believe in reincarnation.

What made him curious about the girl were not her powers, however, it was the fact that he couldn't figure where to place her. He thought maybe she might be useful to them, but she didn't make any advances toward them. On the other hand, she didn't make any advances toward Charlie's friend's either. Instead, she stayed perfectly neutral and didn't budge. It would take someone of great influence to pull her toward their cause, though he wondered if the boy could manage it. Manfred still wondered how the girl managed to see and do her class work with that blindfold on all the time.

Manfred gave up trying to figure it out and placed the girl's profile on top of Shirou Emiya's. He picked up Hector and grimaced. The boy was intolerably patient and sweet. He enjoyed little more than just daydreaming and showing off. Thankfully, he didn't show off yet, or else he would have to assert damage control on the boy. He placed the boy on top of Arturia Pendrake and then picked up Kojirou Saki's profile.

Kojirou Saki interested him. Like Medusa Therion, the boy could hardly be placed on any side. He was just there. He carried a carved wooden sword on his back, due to growing up in a kendo family, and was very good at using it. Manfred wondered if he shouldn't take the thing away from the boy, given that it was a dangerous weapon and could potentially be dangerous to them all.

He placed the boy on top of Medusa Therion and Shirou Emiya and sat back. He looked out the window as he thought about what he should do about Charlie Bone to break up his friends. Together, the group was insufferably good. They stuck like glue and could even defeat the great web that was the Bloors' contacts. Dagbert had even been thwarted by his own distant cousin, Tancred Torsson. The two didn't know this fact, but Manfred did. They both shared the same ancestor.

He heard a faint howl and looked out the window. It was still light, but he knew that howl. It set his nerves on edge to know that beast had come back! He growled and threw his paper weight across the room. It smashed against the wall and the pieces fell to the floor. So the little pet came back for its mate? He was going to rue the day he set foot back in Bloors Academy!


	4. Chapter Three

_A/N: once again, "Children of the Red King" belongs to Jenny Nimmo. I only play with little Charlie's hair when I'm bored. Also, my sinuses are going out of whack and making me feel a little bad. _

_**Chapter Three**_

Charlie found himself awake, in the middle of the night, once again. He looked around and didn't see anyone in the room. He frowned and sat up. A flash of light lit off outside the window and startled him out of his bed. Then, a figure appeared out of the gloom and stepped into the moonlight.

The long dark hair and the cherub like face were instantly recognizable. Ada Isidore, the little French girl in the drama department with the ability to tell the future, was standing in front of him in the strip of moonlight covering the floor and wall not far from his bed. He found he couldn't move when he looked into her dark eyes, which seemed darker than usual, as if there was no life in them.

"Ada?" asked Charlie as he blinked in confusion at the girl.

Ada didn't move, she held her hands in front of her, her purple cloak almost covering her hands. She lifted up a hand and pointed out the window as another flash of light went off. It didn't feel like a storm was brewing, as there was no sound of thunder, so Charlie was confused as to what was lighting up the dorm so vividly.

He tried to walk toward her, but found he still could not move. He looked to Ada again and frowned. She didn't have any emotion on her face whatsoever. She still pointed out the window, however, as though telling him to look.

"I can't move, Ada," he said, hoping that whatever was keeping him in place would go away.

Ada nodded and then put her hand down. "The future and past have come together. The future is not from this time, however. It is from another future with another past, but a past the same as the past."

Charlie frowned. What did she mean? The past and the future had come together? How? "I don't understand, Ada. What are you talking about?"

"The future, Charlie," she said and smiled faintly. "It is a sad future with many regrets. It is troubled with many things and is trying to help while not certain if he should."

Charlie frowned. "It's a person? Someone came from the future and appeared here?"

Ada smiled faintly again and walked backward into the dark shadows of the room. Charlie could move again and walked after her, passing in front of the window he'd seen her standing in front of. He looked out and saw a pair of purple eyes with square pupils gazing at him, snakes writing all around her head like hair. Charlie shot backwards against the end of one of the beds, gazing at the figure in fear. "Wha..what?"

The figure faded away from the glass and was replaced by a shining sword, beautiful and powerful. Behind it stood a knight and it grabbed the hilt of the sword and disappeared. The images kept fading in and out. A large man with huge muscles, fighting a seven headed water dragon, a Japanese warrior with a long sword taking a swing at the air, a Greek witch with a long cloak and elf ears holding onto a multicolored curved blade, a boy with reddish brown hair forming a bright sword in front of him, though Charlie couldn't see his face. Then, finally, a man with oddly cropped pale hair faded in after the boy disappeared, swinging his spear in an arc and bringing it down to strike. He grinned and showed odd red eyes, eyes Charlie knew, but didn't know where he'd seen them.

When the young man disappeared from the glass's reflection, Charlie was left staring at the empty sky. The stars glittered in the clear fall sky as he gazed at the moon. What had all those people been? One looked like something he'd read in class not too long ago, a creature named Medusa who could turn men to stone with her gaze.

Charlie's heart seemed to stop as the glass shattered in front of him, bright light blazing through the glittering shards. His eyes widened in realization. Medusa. They were all images of heroes of the past, though the boy he didn't recognize. Was he King Arthur? Why couldn't he see his face?

The shards seemed to flow past him in slow motion, cutting his cheek, though he couldn't feel it. They collected on the back wall behind him where the glass arranged itself into the form of a great tree, leaves glistening from the light reflecting off the shards. He turned around and looked out the window, seeing the Red Knight sitting on his white horse.

Charlie snapped awake and sat up in his bed. He panted as he rubbed his face. He could see the knight on the horse in his head still. The Red King and his wife, Queen Bernice. That was the Red Knight and his horse. The other things he saw, he couldn't hold onto them. It was as though they were fading away as fast as they had appeared.

He looked around and saw the boys in the dorm asleep. It was night still and the moon shone through the windows. He looked up and saw a little bit of writing show up in the shadows. He blinked and sat up more. "Naren?"

Dr. Bloor's father, Bartholomew Bloor, had gone away to climb mountains when he was younger. He'd fallen off one and was nursed back to health by the people there. When he came back home several years later, he found his own son was turning into just what he'd left home to get away from. He went back to China and took a wife; they adopted a strange little five year old girl who was named Naren. This girl was also an endowed, her gift being able to send messages through shadows to people she had a connection with. If she had a personal item from them, she would be able to send them a message any time the moon was out. They had left when the men went out hunting for the "wilderness wolf" and shot down Asa's father while he was trying to distract them from his son, who was caged up in a cave somewhere. Bartholomew Bloor took his family and the large number of animals they had and left to be someplace else where nothing could bother them, only to come back briefly in a beat up white van to take Asa and his mother away home in the north.

Now that he was watching a message of Naren's come across the wall in shadows, Charlie wondered if Naren and her family were back at the old farm they used to have in the forest.

"Naren, are you back?"

_**Charlie, we're not back, but I was able to get to you now because we are someplace safe.**_

Charlie frowned. "What about Asa and his mother?"

_**The mom and the boy went off home and we haven't seen anything of them yet.**_

Charlie was getting even more uneasy. He looked to Dagbert and saw him shift slightly. "Good bye, Naren," he said softly.

Words scrawled across the wall in a bit of a hurry.

_**He's come back, Charlie. I saw him come through on his own. He stopped by to say 'hello', but he went off again. I think he might be at the town already, maybe even the school.**_

Charlie read and rubbed his head. That confirmed that Asa really did come back and probably to see Morgan, his girlfriend. "I'll keep watch, Naren. Good bye."

_**Good bye, Charlie.**_

Charlie laid back and rubbed his head some more. With Asa back, they had more to their side, but that also put him at risk of being captured again by Manfred, or worse, killed.

* * *

Asa Pike found the school locked up tight. The moon was full and his body was that of a beast. Gray fur covered his body as she padded around the outside wall of the school, sniffing and nosing around for any way in. His clothes were hidden along with his bag. He had food in there for himself to eat while he figured out what to do, but it wasn't going to last long.

He sat back on his hind end and looked up at the window where he figured the girls' dormitory was. Or, really, it was more like a row of windows all along the wall. He put his paws up on the rock wall and sniffed. He smelled perfume and soap, hairspray and various other things, confirming that this possibility could be right. He could faintly smell a bit of heather and rose in the mix, the smell of Morgan MacGregor's usual perfume. It was hard to tell, though, given just how many smells he was encountering. If he wasn't so used to the miasma of smell already, he was certain his poor nose would be bleeding and rendered useless.

Asa pulled away from the wall and snuffed, moving back to where his bag was. If he couldn't get into the school to get back to class, he would wait until the weekend and then come in on Monday with the rest of the students. He rooted through his bag and bit down on a sandwich, pulling it out slowly before holding it down with a paw to munch. If he couldn't spend the night at the school, he had to figure out where he could stay until school let out on Friday. He gulped down his sandwich and rubbed his nose with a paw before looking around.

He heard the sound of someone walking. He moved his head around to find who was out and about and saw a tall, well built, man walk out of the forest and toward the school. He perked up his ears and crouched slightly, not sure if he should be wary or not. He smelled like a human, but he was someone Asa had never seen before.

The man stopped and turned his head toward Asa, seemingly watching him. Asa crouched more to the ground as the man just shook his head and walked away. Maybe he thought he was some stray who happened to be on the ground, but then, Asa didn't exactly look particularly dog-like. He almost didn't look wolf-like, except that his head looked like a wolf. Sort of, anyway. Maybe he was a caretaker like Mr. Weedon was and knew Asa was a were-beast and would be out at night sometimes. If he was that sort, then why didn't he come at Asa? Wouldn't they be notified that Asa was not on their side anymore?

Asa decided not to take his chances; he gathered his bag in his mouth as best as he could and ran off. Fire burst to life right in front of him. He skidded to a halt and looked behind him. Manfred glared at him as he walked closer. "It seems I'm getting better," he said as he smiled coldly, "It seems I'm getting some very interesting powers."

Asa growled and felt the heat of the fire behind him. His yellow eyes gleamed as he snarled at Manfred. Manfred, for a moment, looked genuinely afraid. Being clawed to pieces until you were nearly unrecognizable would do that to a person, as the Red King's three pet leopards, the Flames, had done to him when he had tried to harm Lyle Bone, Charlie's father. Asa used the moment of indecision to make a run for it. He vaulted over the fire and ran out through the paved courtyard to the main gates of the school. Manfred yelled and ran after him, but Asa was far faster in this body. Even in human form, he was very fast, though he was limited in his movement.

When Asa finally stopped, he was in front of Morgan's house. There was a light on inside the home, a candle was lit in the window. He padded up to the front door and scratched the door with his claws as loudly as he could. One thing a human could do that a were-beast couldn't, that was knocking on doors and ringing doorbells. He kept scratching on the door before putting his bag down on the doorstep and jumping up against the door, though that wasn't hard to do, given his size.

Finally, the door opened. He picked up his bag and looked up at Mrs. MacGregor with his best puppy dog pout and wagged his tail for a better effect. She rolled her eyes at him and stood out of his way. "Come on in, you little mutt," she said as she closed the door behind him. "Just be happy that my husband isn't home to see you here. He would throw a royal fit!"

Asa put his bag down and scrambled over to her, rubbing up against her and putting his paws on her stomach as he panted and wagged his tail. He would have laughed if he wasn't just glad to be someplace safe. He had heard that Mrs. MacGregor was a healer and surely a healer wouldn't turn away a poor puppy with a school bag in his mouth, especially if that poor puppy happened to be her daughter's boyfriend. Mr. MacGregor scared him, but Mrs. MacGregor always treated him with some bit of gentleness. She patted him on the head and shooed him away from her. "Go ahead and sleep wherever. When light comes, cover up, I'm sure that bag must include your clothes, Asa Pike," she laughed, walking up the stairs in Number Thirteen Filbert Street.

Asa made himself at home on the couch and curled up with his nose in his tail. As he drifted to sleep, he thought of the man that he'd not seen before and dreamed Manfred was trying to kill him by burning him on a stake.

* * *

When Friday came, Charlie was able to go home with the rest of the students at Bloors. He had managed to not get a detention at all the rest of the week. He walked out the doors, happy to be able to go home for a good weekend, his friend Fidelio Gunn beside him, grinning that impossibly large grin of his. Another thing that made Charlie happy was that this time, when he came home, his dad would be there and they would be able to be a real family once again. Soon, they would have their old home fixed up and Charlie would live there with his father and mother and Maisie, his mother's mother.

He hopped onto the bus as Setanta came up behind him and Fidelio. "Come on, won't you even give me the time of day?" He was apparently flirting with yet another girl.

"Leave me alone, please," said the impatient voice of Eunice Vertand. She walked past Charlie and Fidelio to settle behind them with an exasperated sigh.

Setanta McRoeg wasn't the slightest bit deterred. He grinned and those red eyes of his had an almost maniacal glint in them. "I can make you want me," he said as he went toward her. He didn't get very far though.

Charlie wasn't sure what he had seen. One moment, Setanta was about to push to the seat where Eunice was sitting and the next, Arturia Pendrake was behind him and had swung something hard and glittery down on his head. Charlie had heard the faint sound of metal, like a sword coming out of its sheath, when it happened. Arturia, however, didn't look like she had anything in her hands at all and Setanta was rubbing his head and glaring at her. "I can't believe you're my cousin," Arturia muttered bitterly before sitting down.

Setanta rolled his eyes and walked over to Gabriel and sat next to him. "Wicked witch, she is. That hurt, too," he mumbled, rubbing his head again. Arturia shot him a green eyed glare that made Setanta twitch and settle back like a trained dog. Arturia turned back around as Morgan got on the bus and settled behind Gabriel.

Setanta turned around and grinned at Morgan. Morgan looked up at him and blinked those big blue eyes of hers in confusion. "Er—what?"

Setanta hugged the back of the bus seat and waggled his eyebrows. "Will you help me get close to Eunice there? She's in your orchestra, right?"

Morgan glowered at Setanta and flicked his forehead. "Get back down in your seat," she said.

Setanta yelped and rubbed his forehead as he glared at Morgan. "Mean girl! Never trust the Scottish, I say! Or the English!" Then, he flopped back into his seat, sulking.

Morgan saw Arturia turn around and shake her head, rolling her eyes, before sitting back in her seat again. Morgan would have laughed if the hyperactive teenager wasn't so… hyper.

Fidelio seemed amused by this display; Charlie found it a little disturbing. Setanta reminded him of a hyperactive puppy, trying desperately to get attention and then sulking comically when he didn't get it or when he got swatted on the nose for it. Arturia reminded him more of a very tiny mother lion, taking a great big paw and slamming it down on poor Setanta's head when he got out of hand. The fact that they were cousins made him want to laugh. The pair couldn't be anymore different and Setanta was Irish while Arturia was very English. Maybe they were distantly related, but still close enough to be somewhat comfortable with each other.

The buses moved out and Charlie found himself on then end of Filbert Street in no time. He got off with Morgan and the pair of them walked down the block to their homes, Morgan stopping just before Charlie did a couple of houses down the street. "I'll see you later, Charlie!" she called and waved at him before walking up the steps to her house. She immediately shouted in surprise when a tall, lanky, red haired boy bounded out and caught her around the middle. "ASA!?"

Asa grinned and kissed her right there on the door step. Charlie decided that it was time to turn away and walk up the shaded steps of his house, a walnut dropping down on his hedge like hair and bouncing off as he made his way into his house. It was a good thing he had that head of hair of his, otherwise, that walnut might have hurt.

Maisie, his grandmother from his mother's side, came at him with a big hug and a wet kiss on his cheek before ushering him into the kitchen for a snack. Soon, his mother and father came in and hugged Charlie, happy to see him. His grandma Bones was gone once again, it seemed. She probably made up with at least one of her dreadful sisters, the Yewbeams, and went to live with one of them. It was a happy end to an otherwise odd and eventful week for Charlie. He wouldn't have had it any other way.


End file.
